~ Flu news, Information, Prepardness

Daily Archives: September 2, 2009

(There is some confusion over the translation from Arabic of this article. The last I have heard, is that it IS a mistranslation. So don’t panic folks. However we wouldn’t be surprised because we are expecting it. )

A sample taken from a 28 year-old man who arrived at the port of
Safaga from Saudi Arabia after performing Umrah [pilgrimage] has
tested positive for [both] bird and swine flu [that is, presumably avian
influenza (H5N1) virus and pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus infections]. He
was immediately detained and held in isolation in a hospital in
Hurghada.

Mohammad Rifai, director-general of preventative medicine, stated that
this case is the 3rd in 2 days. [The other 2 are a 35-year-old Italian
tourist also retained at the hospital in Hurghada and] another
pilgrim, 30 years old, who has been detained in Safaga Central
Hospital. Rifai pointed out that a sample from a 38-year-old citizen
has tested negative.

Another 2 cases have been detained in Mansoura fever hospital on
suspicion of similar illness.

[Does the director-general of preventative medicine mean this case is
the 3rd in 2 days of dual infection? Unless both viruses were
detected in the patient, not simply positive antibody results, this
would be inconclusive, since Egypt has reported cases of H5N1
throughout 2009, and this person may have had a mild infection before
leaving for Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has reported 285 cases (no
deaths) of H1N1 in 2009 — see last case count of 22 July in ProMED
ref. below — but it is also possible that the Egyptian
pilgrim(s) could have caught H1N1 from a pilgrim from another
H1N1-infected country.- Mod.JW]

[If this report is confirmed it raises the prospect of the potential
evolution by genome subunit reassortment of a highly transmissible
influenza virus like the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus with the enhanced
virulence of the avian (H5N1) virus. Further information is awaited
confirmatory or not, by laboratory analysis, of the occurrence of dual
infection. – Mod.CP]

[Port Safaga, in the Red Sea Governorate (El Bahr El Ahmar), can be
located on the HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of Egypt athttp://healthmap.org/r/00KC . – Sr.Tech.Ed.MJ]